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Hey y'all, Bug here. Today I'm going to talk about my actual absolute favorite type of film. Known by many names, the B movie or a cult classic, the so-bad-it's-good film is a staple of the medium of film. Movies that are near impossible to make on purpose. These films take advantage of the shared viewing experience in ways that other types of film kind of cannot. That's what I want to talk about today, along with some recommendations.
All of my favorite movie watching experiences come from watching bad movies with people I care about. There is almost something cathartic to all watching something just fall apart in front of your eyes and falling apart a little with it. It's hard to feel awkward or scared in even an unfamiliar group when everyone is watching something truly horrible. Bad movies act as a kind of social lubricant that, to me, provide a near unrivaled sense of collective joy. The group aspect is far from the only part of these bad movies that I love though.
All of the best horrible films have a sense of honesty to them. They're often made by one truly weird guy with a moderate amount of money and an honest passion for art. Even when the end product isn't the best, I still think there is something beautiful to that. These movies are unfiltered in ways that good movies can't be. Because good movies generally have editors and other writers who will tell the director that maybe casting themselves as an alien techno Jesus is a little odd. That directness inherent to independent art is something that I believe has legitimate artistic merit and a the best bad movies have that at their core. It's kind of what makes them good in a way. I have seen a lot of soulless films. Films that feel like they were made exclusively to sell or appeal to a specific market. Formulaic, mass produced franchise films that currently dominate the market. A lot of these movies suck. But they're very rarely so-bad-it's-good because they lack that sense of honesty. That unfiltered vision. Sure they can have baffling choices, but there's never a consistency to them that you find in the best bad films.
The Best Bad Films
Aight, now it's time to talk about some of the best bad films out there. The cream of the crap-coated crop. These are of course my opinions but I can say that none of these films have disappointed me ever before. First up is The Legend of Simon Conjurer (2006) by director Stuart Paul is such a weird movie. It follows a hypnotist psychiatrist and his attempts to cure his group of patients through a night of adventure. It is three hours long, the main character who is played by the director is consistently portrayed as the best person ever, there is chocolate based CGI, and the film has some very poorly aged stereotypes for both sexualities and different ethnic groups. It is very funny though completely by accident and that's enough to make up for it. Oh! and Academy Award winning actor John Voight stars as the antagonist for some reason.
The Legend of Simon Conjurer is just the beginning of this rabbit hole though. My favorite bad movies come from one very odd Las Vegas realtor, Neil Breen. Oh my god I love Neil Breen. All of his films share these truly odd creative decisions that I honestly think mark him as an auteur director. In multiple films he is hacking the government for undisclosed reasons. He is usually a Christ figure if not outright divine. Women fall for him very easily and all the while he is supplying some of the worst acting put to screen. He is a tour de force in oddity and poor film making decisions. My favorite of his films is Fateful Findings (2013). In which he gets magic powers from a rock, hacks the government, and we see his nude old man butt multiple times. It's amazing. He somehow manages to make ninety minute films that feel like an eternity and his entire filmography is worth watching, especially when with friends.
I'm just gonna leave y'all with some clips from Fateful Findings (2013) because everyone needs a little bit of it in their lives.
Hi, Bug! This is a very interesting post! I have never really thought about there being pros to suffering through bad movies with friends, but after reading your post I believe you are onto something. Personally though, there are just some bad movies that should not be watched more than five minutes. For me and my family, "Into the Woods" has been the only movie we shut off after a few minutes as we could not take it. Anyways, I'll be sure to keep your bad movie reccomendations in mind as you have strangly convinced me to watch them. Thank you! Also, keep up the good writing!
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